I knew I had to ride today when I went to retrieve the mail and saw a green anole basking in the warm sun on the wall beside the mailbox. We have had a wet, cold fall, which bodes well for the wildflowers, but gives me a raging case of cabin fever. I had my bike in the shop for a 10,000 mile tune-up and I was anxious to scrub in that new back tire.
My regular riding buddies were AWOL so I went by myself which turned out to be AOK since I've been cooped up riding herd on a teenager doing last minute projects and high school finals and nursing a post-op knee surgery my DH had last week. Along with the usual "tis the season" preparations, I took a look at everything that still needs to be done and said, "Looks like a good day to ride."
I couldn't get outta there fast enough.
My last ride was miserable and I was ready to redeem it.
The temperature was a blessed 65 degrees and sunny with a slight wind. My new gloves are great, Windshielder gloves from Harley, took some getting used to since I already have fat grips, now I have a handful of grips, leather, and lining to deal with, but my hands aren't cold.
I rode out to my favorite twisty road, only to find a brand new BMW X5 meandering slowly down the road. The driver, clearly unaccustomed to the performance capabilities of such a car, braked at every curve, thwarting my efforts to scrub the chicken strips off my new tire. Such a waste of a fine machine. I blew their doors off with my little 805 cc engine with a scathing look as I passed by. Sorry about that, but I had riding to do and I didn't want to spend it in 3rd gear.
My mechanic is a genius. The once clunky gear shifting now slips into gear with barely a touch of my toe to the shifter and a soft "snick". What once was a cold starting wench, now fires right up on the first try even on the coldest day. And it runs like a bat of out hell. It truly is Fabulous!
After a bit of highway riding and a short stop for gas, I took the run home through the Brazos River Bottom. The temperature was falling so I stopped to add another layer at the tree beside the cutoff to Washington on the Brazos State Park. A raccoon, apparently sitting at the base of the tree, scrambled up into the tree as I got off the bike, startling me mightily! Wow, he was big.
I passed the Brazos River and turned onto the Allen Farm Road and was surprised to see all the tractors working in the fields. The fields have been so wet the tractors leave huge clumps of dirt on the road as they leave the fields. Thankfully it was all dried up so it was just a bumpy ride and not a slippery one. The air smells of wet, molded maize that could not be harvested. They are out in the fields now, turning it under. The birds are feasting on it.
If it's not the mud on the road, it's deer. Several deer challenged me on the side of the road between the railroad tracks and the cutoff to Wellborn. I crept through their territory without incident and made it to the highway back into town.
I got into the fast lane on the highway to get past two gravel trucks and the first one was either overful or didn't have it's bay shut completely because it was dropping kaliche all over the highway. That's extra exciting when you're on a motorcycle. I hope someone called it in, that size rock could easily break a windshield. I know the 3 rocks that hit me wouldn't have felt so good had I not been wearing full armored gear.
Life's little blessings and challenges, all condensed on a motorcycle ride. Good and bad, joy and terror, problems and solutions.
The song for today is...Roll Me Away, Bob Seeger
MotorcycleBelle